Sunday, April 30, 2006

MCT

All of us have soent this entire year preparing our students for a state assesment. These tests not only gauge what our studnets know, but what we have taught them (or have not taught them) The anxiety of the whole situation is exhausting. You spend the entire second semester on pins and needles. Fear clutches at you as you approach test day. There are numerous workshops, classes, and meetings. You prep your students on how to take tests and what to expect. They see hundreds of questions like the ones that will be on the test. There are test pep rallies and assemblies. And then the test day arrives. The students scribble and bubble furiously. You walk around the room praying the whole time that they will pass and your school will be a Level 3, 4, 5. Then suddenly its over and school returns to a normalcy that is rare. A normalcy that you remember from when you were in school and there was no such thing as a "high stakes test." A normalcy that these students no nothing about. And you wonder what all the hype was for anyway and vow to enjoy the last weeks of school when you can just teach. Funny thing is-that is what you were supposed to have been doing all year. And you realize that you will do it all again next year.

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